A row over the publication of potentially embarrassing details of high-profile MPs' expense claims was heading for the high court last night after Commons authorities launched a last-ditch attempt to block their release.

Breakdowns of second-home allowances claimed by Gordon Brown, David Cameron, 11 other MPs and the former prime minister Tony Blair were due to be published tomorrow following a ruling by Richard Thomas, the information commissioner. But the Commons authorities moved unexpectedly yesterday to prevent disclosure by announcing they would appeal against the ruling on the grounds of security. Their appeals have already cost the taxpayer £50,000.

The information commissioner's office said last night it had been told as recently as yesterday morning that officials would not appeal against the tribunal's decision. "However, this appears to have been issued prematurely," a spokesman said.

A spokeswoman for the Commons commission, which manages house affairs, said Michael Martin, the Speaker, "is concerned that the information tribunal may have misdirected itself in law in deciding that home addresses of MPs should always be published subject to only limited exceptions". There was concern that the release of home addresses could "inhibit democratic debate" on sensitive issues, the spokeswoman said.

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP who has campaigned for expenses to be published, said: "I think it sends entirely the wrong signal that the House of Commons will appear in the public's eye to be resisting a tribunal decision and we will look as though we are trying to protect our own backs. I am sympathetic to the point that MPs' addresses should not be made public. I think they have a right to query that point but no more."

The other politicians whose claims were sought include John Prescott, former deputy prime minister; George Osborne, shadow chancellor; and Sir Menzies Campbell, former Lib Dem leader.

The move is the latest twist in a three-year battle between the Commons and freedom of information campaigners for the release of the details of 14 MPs' additional costs allowances. It emerged earlier this month that the £23,000-a-year allowance can be used for household items, including up to £10,000 for a kitchen, £6,355 for a bathroom and £300 for a rug under the so-called "John Lewis list".

The information tribunal recently ordered the Commons to release the MPs' individual claims and said there was no reason why their second home addresses should not be revealed too.

Heather Brooke, a campaigner who has been fighting for the release, last night criticised the decision to appeal. "What a shocking waste of taxpayers' money," she said. "The people who are keeping things secret are being subsidised by the taxpayer."

The decision came amid heightened awareness of MPs' expenses regimes in the wake of the Derek Conway affair. Conway, MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup, was stripped of the Tory whip and expelled from the Commons for 10 days for paying his son Freddie a salary of £45,161 over three years even though he was "all but invisible" during the period of employment.